C28 - Wednesday, May 9, 1984 - North Shore News

MOST OF us know that a
woman puts her unborn child
at risk if she smokes or drinks
too much during pregnancy.
Smokers’ babies are likely to
be underweight. Up to 40%
of the babies of alcoholic
mothers may be affected by
fetal alcohol syndrome,
which produces retarded
growth, low IQ and deform-
ed faces.

But unborn children are

also put at risk when their
mothers take substances that
we think of as relatively safe.
Recent research showed that
women take an average of
nine different medicines dur-
ing pregnancy, 80% of which
are taken without a doctor’s

knowledge. They included
iron and vitamin = sup-
plements, appetite sup-

pressants, painkillers, cough
medicines and antacids as

well as prescription medica-
tions such as antibiotics and
sleeping pills.

Why should medicines. be a
threat to an unborn child?
Because they can _ travel
through the placenta from
the mother’s bloodstream to
that of the fetus. A drug can
then affect the fetus quite dif-
ferently to the way if affects
the mother. A tragic example
of this was given by

thalidomide in the 1960s. A
mild sedative that was recom-
mended for expectant
mothers resulted in severely-
deformed babies when taken
during the third to the eighth
week of pregnancy. Extensive
premarket testing on animals
had failed to reveal
thalidominde’s deadly effect
on human fetuses.

Today we are learning
about the effects on fetuses

of some common drugs. For
instance, researchers believe
that prolonged use of an-
tacids that contain sodium
for heartburn is inadvisable
because the fetus, with its im-
thature kidneys, has difficul-
ty in ridding itself of sodium.

ASA (the painkiller con-
tained in Aspirin, Bufferin
and Anacin) may prolong
labor and, even when taken

Drugs and the unborn child

up to two weeks before a
baby is born, may impair the
ability of the newborn’s
blood to clot.

Too many Vitamin A pills
in pregnancy may damage the
fetus’s nervous system and
kidneys.

Excessive Vitamin D can
upset the calcium balance,
which may lead to bone pro-
blems and mental
retardation.

YES, AT SHELL YOUR SUPERMARKET
GAS COUPONS ARE GOOD FOR ‘1.50 ON A
MINIMUM 30 LITRE FILL-UP. THIS OFFER EXPIRES
MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY MAY 13.

FOR MILEAGE...AND VALUE.

COME TO SHELL

LOOK FOR PARTICIPATING SHELL
STATIONS DISPLAYING THIS SIGN
IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER:

SAFEWAY
OR

R VALU

SUPE

GAS COUPONS
WORTH
9-50

_ HERE.